The Meyer Foundation board of directors has selected two chief executives and their local nonprofit organizations for the second round of Julie L. Rogers Sabbatical Program grants. Launched in 2014, the program awards $50,000 grants to long-serving nonprofit executive directors to support sabbatical activities, compensate their organization’s interim management team, and provide professional development support for their organization’s staff.

The program was established by Meyer’s board of directors to honor Julie L. Rogers, who served as the Foundation’s president from 1986 to 2014. Creative Disruption, a study conducted by Third Sector New England and CompassPoint—found that the demands of leadership make intellectual, emotional, creative, and physical burnout all too common among nonprofit executives. This program is designed to recognize and support effective executives, to offer them time to reflect, refresh, and renew their stamina to engage in the important work they do for the long haul.

We are pleased to share this year’s recipients:

Adam Levner, Executive Director and Co-Founder, Critical Exposure
Adam is the executive director and co-founder of Critical Exposure, an organization that teaches DC youth to fight for educational equity through organizing and photography. Adam’s previous work as a community organizer in Prince George’s County, MD helped address school funding disparities by securing more than $20 million annually in additional revenue for the district. He also worked as an education consultant for the Center for Community Change and as a freelance photographer. Adam attended Tufts University and received a Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate from the Georgetown University Center for Public & Nonprofit Leadership. He is a member of Leadership Greater Washington and once gave a TED talk titled, "Stories Aren't Enough: Connecting Youth Voices to Action" at TEDxFoggyBottom.

Jean-Michel Giraud, President and CEO,Friendship Place
Jean-Michel is the president and CEO of Friendship Place, an organization that develops solutions to homelessness in Washington, DC. Since joining the organization in 2006, Jean-Michel’s 25 years of clinical experience in human services, training in psychiatric rehabilitation, expertise in recovery, and a commitment to person-centered programming has led him to pioneer innovative program models that have moved DC’s homeless services system forward. In 2009, he was named to the DC Interagency Council on Homelessness and the board of the Coalition of Housing and Homeless Organizations (2009-2013). In 2010, he received the Meyer Foundation Exponent Award for visionary nonprofit leadership. His focus on cost-effective, permanent, and rapid solutions to homelessness has been praised by the DC government, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and homeless service advocates. He also authors a Huffington Post blog.

We congratulate both recipients for their track record of incredible professional accomplishments within the local nonprofit community and contributions to the field. We also congratulate their organizations on this opportunity to deepen their bench, expanding leadership across their respective teams.

Adam and Jean-Michel are joined by last year’s inaugural sabbatical grant recipients: Michael Cassidy (The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis); Michele Booth Cole (Safe Shores); Oramenta Newsome (LISC DC); and Kristine Thompson (Calvary Women’s Services). Stay tuned for more information about the next round of sabbatical grants in 2018.